Bitzlato CEO arrested by Spanish police: Report

According to a Feb. 2 report by Turkish news agency Anadolu, Spanish authorities have arrested the CEO, sales executive and marketing director of Hong Kong cryptocurrency exchange Bitzlato. In total, six Russian and Ukrainian nationals related to the exchange were arrested in a joint effort between France, Portugal, Cyprus and United States law enforcement.  As told by Spanish police, the exchange’s anonymity allowed it to become the platform of choice for criminal organizations seeking to launder money via cryptocurrency. Authorities seized $19.8 million (18 million euros) in digital assets, luxury cars,…

Senate Banking Committee’s priorities for new Congress include crypto: Report

Senator Tim Scott, the Republican ranking member on the United States Senate Banking Committee, reportedly plans to develop “a bipartisan regulatory framework” for cryptocurrencies. According to a Feb. 2 report from Politico, Scott included the crypto framework as one of his priorities for the 118th Congress. He reportedly was skeptical of some aspects of crypto, alluding to the collapse of exchanges like FTX — “high-profile failures resulted in lost consumer assets” — and potential uses for illicit finance. Scott recently took over the ranking member position from former Senator Pat…

Indian retail chain rolls out support for CBDC payments in stores: Report

One of India’s biggest retail chains, Reliance Retail, announced that they have started accepting the digital rupee at one of its store lines and plans to extend the rollout to all its businesses.  In a report by Tech Crunch, the company said that CBDC support is already rolled out at Freshpik, its gourmet store line. In addition, the firm also noted that it will be expanding support for the digital rupee to all of its properties, a move that could potentially push adoption forward for the country’s CBDC. V Subramaniam,…

Ethereum-Based Decentralized Exchange Token Explodes 50% As Project Releases Yearly Report

An Ethereum (ETH)-based decentralized exchange (DEX) token has shot up 50% in just a few days after the project released a new annual report. The dYdX (DYDX) Foundation released its “inaugural ecosystem annual report” on Monday, which outlined the decentralized finance (DeFi) DEX’s development in 2022. “Despite the challenging market conditions in 2022, stakeholders in the dYdX ecosystem persevered and continued to build toward the future of finance — one block at a time. In 2022, DeFi proved its resilience and demonstrated clear advantages over CeFi [centralized finance]. Market activity…

Meta gets court win in metaverse acquisition plans: Report

A federal judge in the United States has reportedly given approval for tech giant Meta to move forward on acquiring a virtual reality company. According to a Feb. 1 report from Bloomberg, Judge Edward Davila in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California denied an injunction by the Federal Trade Commission, or FTC, as part of an effort to block Meta from purchasing VR firm Within. However, he also reportedly issued a temporary restraining order preventing Meta from closing the deal for at least a week. The ruling…

Crypto scammers abuse ‘lax’ UK company laws to fool victims: Report

The United Kingdom is host to at least 168 companies accused of running fraudulent crypto or foreign exchange (forex) scams according to an independent analysis. A Jan. 29 joint investigation by media firms the Bureau of Investigative Journalism and the Observer suggested organized crime groups are using the U.K. as their base due to its “lax regulation.” The actual number of U.K.-based crypto or forex companies involved in scams is likely far greater than 168 as the number was calculated by reviewing lists of suspected shell companies and cross-referencing them…